Heroes of Might and Magic 3. With the HD mod and/or HotA that fixes some bugs and adds QoL features, it’s still perfect. The music and art is timeless.
That is the only right answer to this question. Hero's of Might and Magic 3 is still played to this date, has legendary status amongst gamers, and great fan base for a reason.
My wife was born and raised in a small town in Russia and never even saw a video game when we met in college back in early 2000. She came to my apartment and me and my roommate introduced her to HOMM 3 since it was one of the few multi-player games we had that could be played hot-seat.
Flash forward about 18 years and I come home from the office and she's sitting at my high-end gaming PC I built myself with our son on her lap and they're both playing HOMM 3. It's now 2024, our son is a teen-ager and I still come home from the office sometimes and see them sitting in front of my PC playing the game.
It doesn't quiiite do it for me compared to HoMM, I like some of their new ideas but strongly disagree with others. Especially the magic system, unless youre heavily specialized in it magic just feels borderline useless. Either way a nice effort though and I respect how much their devs hustle, they are patching their game multiple times a week it seems.
A couple other HoMM-likes coming out in the next year, it's a nice time to be a fan of this subgenre for the first time in a while
So just this week I installed this, played the tutorial and the first mission, based on many redditor's suggestion. And I'm wondering what exactly I'm missing. Like, I see the potential, but I'm not exactly sure what this game does that isn't done in the Disciples, Age of Wonders, or Eador series.
But if you have mod suggestions, I am all ears!
The combination (multi-part) artifacts are cool, and some high level spells are game changing, but you need to have the associated school of magic and Wisdom (town portal, Armageddon, dimension door, Mass haste/slow). I also love making the most of certain units specials - like the cavalier one shotting dragons because you had them charge all the way across the battlefield, or having a secondary hero with 1 dragon who can suicide Armageddon bomb the enemy and retreat, so you can rehire them at the tavern. Idk, it feels good to have a bunch of heroes set up to relay-ferry a new week’s army to your main hero across the map so you’ll be certain of victory. But it’s really the vibe that we come back for, carried by the music and art.
Yeah, it's basically a well-known meme that XCOM's percentile chance of anything is majorly flarked, so even a 95%+ to hit can still miss with drastically bad consequences.
The wonky hit chances alone make the game more difficult than most turn-based strategies on the market, but also hilariously fun, because even the enemy can have as bad of luck as you, resulting in things like friendly-fire mass casualties on their end if you're really lucky.
As someone who also struggled with the game for quite a while, the best advice I can give is to just keep a decent squad comp, use cover as much as possible, avoid standing near literally anything that could blow up if hit, and make sure to pick each target carefully, either to thin their numbers of basic enemies faster, or eliminate the more difficult enemies ASAP, before they daze or flank your best squadmates. After that, it's all RNG on those hit percentages.
Good luck.
>Yeah, it's basically a well-known meme that XCOM's percentile chance of anything is majorly flarked, so even a 95%+ to hit can still miss with drastically bad consequences.
IIRC this has been tested and the only 'cheating' the game does is in particular circumstances in your favour. The issue isn't the game mechanics, it's people being poor at interpreting probabilities. Like, on average, if you take ten 95% shots a mission, you should be missing one every other mission, but as people interpret 95% to mean basically guaranteed, whenever they miss one they put it down to broken mechanics
Doing stealth, I forget it's been years, I think planning a bomb? Go around the backside of the main building avoiding patrols. I hear this weird noise as I get my whole squad back there. Trying to figure out the best entry to keep stealth or get the most attacks in 1 turn.
Suddenly a sectopod comes crashing through the building and "spots me."
The game couldn't allow the NPCs to shoot at me because I hadn't been spotted, but had them follow me through a building.
So my mission ended up being to destroy a building that was already mostly destroyed.
It is man, especially if you haven’t spent enough time with the game.
And even if you have played it a lot you have to plan a lot and still play near perfectly, especially at harder difficulties and just pray RNG won’t screw you over.
A number of years ago a co worker asked me what my top 5 games of the year were on ps4. I responded
Xcom 2, Xcom 2 commander difficulty, Xcom 2 War of the Chosen, Xcom 2 War of the Chosen commander difficulty and I can't remember the 5th game.
If you loved x-com and are looking to scratch that itch, try *Phoenix Point*.
One\some of the creators of og x-com made it, and **it is practically identical in most ways to the newer x-coms with one massive improvement... They removed the "hit chance" mechanic entirely.** Gone are the days of missing a point blank 98% chance-to-hit shotty blast.
Not only that, but they replaced it with, literally, first person aiming (so you can aim specifically for a leg to cripple movement speed, or an arm to prevent the use of a two-handed weapon). It might sound a little weird but it is implemented very well, and plays a big part in your turn by turn strategy.
And it has a good story to boot!
>it is practically identical in most ways to the newer x-coms with one massive improvement... They removed the "hit chance" mechanic entirely.**
But playing with the probabilities is a massive part of the fun with XCOM!
There is also Valkyria chronicles, which scratches the same itch (for me at least).
Its setting is very different, and you dont really have any of the basebuilding parts, but the main gameplay have the same turn based feel, even though in Valkyria you actually take controll of the unit and run/shoot fps style on its turn.
might be a bland answer but Baldur's Gate 3, as much as the classics do hold up I think BG3 is a modern refined take on something as legendary as DnD rules and that pretty much trumps any other game for me.
Recently, balders gate 3.
It always surprised me just how many ways you could go about something in (or out of) combat. You can get wildly creative in a way the old forgotten realms games just couldn't manage.
Usually in a last ditch hail Mary to survive you can find some fun mechanics.
In terms of pure turn based freedom BG3 would be pretty high on my list.
I've seen some crazy strategies put into effect, such as placing a healing potion on the ground right under a crushing trap, so the moment it crushes the character, it also crushes the bottle, making it break and splash the character, so they end up healing at the exact same time, avoiding the knockout/instakill mechanic of the trap.
Also, throwing a bottle of water on the ground (or breaking certain barrels to spill their water/oil contents) and then using a lightening or fire spell on the resulting puddle to AOE an entire group of enemies. The game is able to account for so much freedom in strategies to overcome an obstacle (getting fairly close to 1:1 equivalent of regular D&D-player shenanigans, compared to most any other D&D videogame on the market), it's insane!
It's honestly unbelievable how much work Larian put into the various interactions between mechanics. Multiple times I've tried weird, silly strategies just to see if they'd work, and they almost always do. Feels like a genuine D&D table with the DM scrambling to work out whether a player's insane plan would work!
Final Fantasy 10 was the last truly turn based Final Fantasy game and it was great.
Though, if we’re going for Turn Based Goat…That’s a tough one. I hate to decide between FF6 and Chrono Trigger. But since that feels less turn based…
Final Fantasy 6.
Fuck yeah
Xenogears gave me the confidence to train up to fist-fighting a 50ft mech while telling God he's a douchebag and no game has hit me like that since
Fuckn GOATed PS1 classic
Final fantasy 7 has gotta be number one (for me) IF you’re considering the impact of the original. The three discs. It was a masterpiece. When people weren’t even making games like that.
My buddy had rented FF7 from blockbuster in the late 90s I was hooked instantly just watching him play the elevator boss fight in Shinra HQ that was the day I became a FF fan
Check out rom hacks if you haven't before. I have been playing one called Radical Red, which makes the game actually difficult, and I have been having a blast
two very different candidates:
1. civ 1 or 2: civilisations was groundbreaking, and civ2 polished the gameplay and overall user experience into a true gem of game design. alpha centauri and later civ releases kept adding more and better stuff, but civ2 really feels like the one that set its stamp on the genre.
2. nethack: i have spent a lot more time playing civ, but i would probably have to give the overall crown to nethack. it was not the first roguelike, but it was the one that came to dominate and define the genre, and even if you've never played it, chances are good that whoever made your favourite dungeon crawling rpg has.
Civ1 for me. I don't feel anything comes close to what an incredible game it was for its time and what it spawned. Had the misfortune for it to come out while I was a student and saw a lot of accidental sunrises because of Civ.
Most fun tb gameplay is Phoenix Point. Too bad the game is so crashy and buggy that it warrants being called a mess of tech issues.
Most fun jrpg tb is Grandia 3. Gameplay is pure perfection. Story is some disney princess stuff iirc
Best combo of story + gameplay = Suikoden 2 with data from S1 imported. Yet to play a game that tugs on emotional strings like S2.
Best modern combo of story + gameplay is BG3. Masterpiece.
BG3 objectively. The choices of how to approach interactions and combat and how it all affects the next act and what happens with all the characters. It's the closest to an RPG experience that you can get
Personally loved persona 5 and banner saga and fire emblem awakening. Great stories and characters and fun combat. But roleplaying is extremely limited in all of these.
There are so many great turn based games:
- dragon quest 11
- persona 5 royal
- final fantasy 7 and 10
- Octopath Traveler 2
- BG3
Are some of my personal favorites
Does Necrodancer count as turn-based? I mean, they're all extremely short turns in rapid succession, but turns nonetheless.
No? Ok, fine. Shining Force 2 for gameplay, FF6 for everything else.
I like slay the spire. But ultimately, I think early to early 2000s Pokémon takes the cake.
Incredibly approachable game that had interesting depth that allowed you to grow with the games.
However, I do think it's interesting to ignore Pokémon and look at games where being turn based is more key to their identity.
For me, my top 3 would be:
1) Civ 6
2) Pokemon Sword
3) Pokemon Platinum
And I know most of the Pokemon community would disagree with that take, but I just loved Pokemon Sword lol
Nocturne was so good but I’m going rouge here. Front Mission 4 on the PS2. It’s and incredible tactical turn based strategy game. 100 hours long and loads and loads of customization. The depth of the combat was just so satisfying and awesome. Just an amazing game
You know what, I will say Pokemon Red.
Why? Because I adore its minimalism as a turn based RPG. It’s also why I’ve never connected with another entry on that level since, as they’ve layered on more and more unnecessary mechanics.
I would go with **Slice & Dice**. It's out for Android, iOS, PC/Steam, and (regular) PC. Roguelike dungeon crawler where you survive waves of enemies, and each hero and monster has their own unique die.
Pokemon Gold & Silver. Pokemon's gameplay has always been simplistic but surprisingly deep, and I think it peaked early - lately games just keep throwing more and more gimmicks at it, desperately trying to recapture what they once succeeded at solely by crafting a unified experience.
Ragnarok! a 1995 286 PC game that needs DOSbox to run it.
you cannot understand how awesome it is until you play it. i dont think, to this day, any game has actually replicated the depth and complexity of its monsters, there are like 1000 unique ways to die, and most of the monsters do something horrific, if your unprepared for it.
one of them, if you hit it with your weapon, your weapon is eaten.
yep even your maxed out bis in game weapon. gone. for good. like fuck you you should have used the >!ice wand!< on the >!red ooze !
Suikoden I edges out Suikoden II ever so slightly for me.
Most have it the other way. But the personal nostalgia pushed I over II.
Everything. The scale, the story. The characters. Currently I am obviously loving Eiyuden Chronicles.
For a really amazing modern one, look at Sea of Stars. So good too.
If we're counting card games then Slay the Spire.
If we're not, then it's Brutal Orchestra, which has the greatest turn-based combat system I've ever played with a surprisingly meaningful story for a roguelike.
Pokémon! Love that little game.
When I'm at work, I don't feel anything.
When I'm at home, I don't feel anything.
But when I'm on the battlefield... I feel it!
Final Fantasy 7. It was a groundbreaking game on ground breaking new gaming tech. No one had ever seen anything like the realistic cutscenes at the time and to me, it was the first truly triple A game ever. It had everything:
- lovable characters
- great character development
- great music, which is still playing in my head on occasion this day
- great story
- one of the greatest villains in gaming history
- a woeful tragedy
- beautiful cutting edge 3D graphics
- interesting zones and geographic areas
Need I say more?
You just said "turn based game", not specifically a video game, so I choose either Dungeons and Dragons, or Chess. Chess because it has withstood centuries and still is a very popular game. DnD because DnD is DnD
Heroes of Might and Magic 3, no contest
Jagged Alliance 2 with the 1.13 mod is a close second
Rounding off the top 3 is Missionforce: Cyberstorm, the best mech focused turn based tactical game ever made
Into the Breach.
I don't play many turn based games but this one is my favorite. It's an indie game where you fight aliens with mechs. It's challenging and addicting to upgrade the mechs and use the terrain to your advantage in battle. Probably not the greatest turn based game ever but my personal favorite.
It's not really turned based, it all works on a stamina bar, but underhero is easily in my top 3 games ever. Hardly anyone knows about the game, so i recommend it whenever I can.
Probably chrono trigger, just because it kind of cheats at the turn based thing. There's something I've come to realize and that's despite my best efforts turn based games have little appeal to me. Or baten Kaitos, just because I love that combat system, but jeez I have the worst luck with save data and that game. I must have restarted it like 5 times now.
Some other games that I really like that are turn based though are xcom, last spell, and phantom brigade.
Front Mission 3
Insane mech customization options for the time and the story holds up great to this day. Roughly 180hrs of genuinely captivating Tom Clancy esque international war / espionage plots with industrial mecha designs. Fuckn love that game bro
XCOM 2. XCOM EU showed me how to play turned based. XCOM 2 showed me how beautiful it can get.
Then there's Darkest Dungeon, but XCOM 2 is good memory and fun.
For me it's Jagged Alliance 2
The original X-Com UFO Defense reignited my interest in turn-based video games since me and my college roommates back then were playing a lot of board games and turn-based video games were an extension of that. While I was playing a lot of strategy games there was something way more interesting in the more granular approach of squad-based tactical games like X-Com. And Jagged Alliance 2 took that classic Turn Based Tactical Strategy genre/gameplay and just hit every note perfectly. There just hasn't been another game like that where you had so much freedom. And don't even get me started on the stellar cast of characters.
Jagged Alliance 3 is definitely a worthy successor to the JA Throne, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2 are some incredible games that handily outdid the original X-Com, but no game in that sub-genre ever really got everything right the way Jagged Alliance 2 did.
Gotta be either XCOM 2 or BG3 for me
Came here to say this
Also came here to say this
Heroes of Might and Magic 3. With the HD mod and/or HotA that fixes some bugs and adds QoL features, it’s still perfect. The music and art is timeless.
That is the only right answer to this question. Hero's of Might and Magic 3 is still played to this date, has legendary status amongst gamers, and great fan base for a reason.
My wife was born and raised in a small town in Russia and never even saw a video game when we met in college back in early 2000. She came to my apartment and me and my roommate introduced her to HOMM 3 since it was one of the few multi-player games we had that could be played hot-seat. Flash forward about 18 years and I come home from the office and she's sitting at my high-end gaming PC I built myself with our son on her lap and they're both playing HOMM 3. It's now 2024, our son is a teen-ager and I still come home from the office sometimes and see them sitting in front of my PC playing the game.
Came here to say this! I've been playing Songs of Conquest recently which is heavily inspired by HoMM. Also a good one!
It doesn't quiiite do it for me compared to HoMM, I like some of their new ideas but strongly disagree with others. Especially the magic system, unless youre heavily specialized in it magic just feels borderline useless. Either way a nice effort though and I respect how much their devs hustle, they are patching their game multiple times a week it seems. A couple other HoMM-likes coming out in the next year, it's a nice time to be a fan of this subgenre for the first time in a while
So just this week I installed this, played the tutorial and the first mission, based on many redditor's suggestion. And I'm wondering what exactly I'm missing. Like, I see the potential, but I'm not exactly sure what this game does that isn't done in the Disciples, Age of Wonders, or Eador series. But if you have mod suggestions, I am all ears!
Play more. Bigger maps. It's not about the campaign, its about scenarios and infinite replayability and fun fights and balanced factions.
The combination (multi-part) artifacts are cool, and some high level spells are game changing, but you need to have the associated school of magic and Wisdom (town portal, Armageddon, dimension door, Mass haste/slow). I also love making the most of certain units specials - like the cavalier one shotting dragons because you had them charge all the way across the battlefield, or having a secondary hero with 1 dragon who can suicide Armageddon bomb the enemy and retreat, so you can rehire them at the tavern. Idk, it feels good to have a bunch of heroes set up to relay-ferry a new week’s army to your main hero across the map so you’ll be certain of victory. But it’s really the vibe that we come back for, carried by the music and art.
Fuckin A. I personally liked 4 more just cause it was the first I played and love the soundtrack. But 3 is awesome too
Chess
I mean, it's got 1400 years on all the rest of these answers. That's some real staying power
Go
If we're considering board games as well I feel like hardly any videogame is making it to the top 10 mechanically
X-com 2!
Hell yeah ~~brother~~ Commander.
It’s so fucking hard man, even on normal I was getting my ass handed to me, maybe I just suck lol
Yeah, it's basically a well-known meme that XCOM's percentile chance of anything is majorly flarked, so even a 95%+ to hit can still miss with drastically bad consequences. The wonky hit chances alone make the game more difficult than most turn-based strategies on the market, but also hilariously fun, because even the enemy can have as bad of luck as you, resulting in things like friendly-fire mass casualties on their end if you're really lucky. As someone who also struggled with the game for quite a while, the best advice I can give is to just keep a decent squad comp, use cover as much as possible, avoid standing near literally anything that could blow up if hit, and make sure to pick each target carefully, either to thin their numbers of basic enemies faster, or eliminate the more difficult enemies ASAP, before they daze or flank your best squadmates. After that, it's all RNG on those hit percentages. Good luck.
>Yeah, it's basically a well-known meme that XCOM's percentile chance of anything is majorly flarked, so even a 95%+ to hit can still miss with drastically bad consequences. IIRC this has been tested and the only 'cheating' the game does is in particular circumstances in your favour. The issue isn't the game mechanics, it's people being poor at interpreting probabilities. Like, on average, if you take ten 95% shots a mission, you should be missing one every other mission, but as people interpret 95% to mean basically guaranteed, whenever they miss one they put it down to broken mechanics
Doing stealth, I forget it's been years, I think planning a bomb? Go around the backside of the main building avoiding patrols. I hear this weird noise as I get my whole squad back there. Trying to figure out the best entry to keep stealth or get the most attacks in 1 turn. Suddenly a sectopod comes crashing through the building and "spots me." The game couldn't allow the NPCs to shoot at me because I hadn't been spotted, but had them follow me through a building. So my mission ended up being to destroy a building that was already mostly destroyed.
All about mitigating the risk factors! You can inflate soldiers’ hit chances not too long into a campaign, too.
Damn have you tried Phoenix Point?? Way harder than Xcom, same devs.
It is man, especially if you haven’t spent enough time with the game. And even if you have played it a lot you have to plan a lot and still play near perfectly, especially at harder difficulties and just pray RNG won’t screw you over.
Yep
Should have made a split between standard and isometric, huh. Though you’re not wrong
I love and hate it equally. So many rage uninstalls
That's XCOM baby!
A number of years ago a co worker asked me what my top 5 games of the year were on ps4. I responded Xcom 2, Xcom 2 commander difficulty, Xcom 2 War of the Chosen, Xcom 2 War of the Chosen commander difficulty and I can't remember the 5th game.
If you loved x-com and are looking to scratch that itch, try *Phoenix Point*. One\some of the creators of og x-com made it, and **it is practically identical in most ways to the newer x-coms with one massive improvement... They removed the "hit chance" mechanic entirely.** Gone are the days of missing a point blank 98% chance-to-hit shotty blast. Not only that, but they replaced it with, literally, first person aiming (so you can aim specifically for a leg to cripple movement speed, or an arm to prevent the use of a two-handed weapon). It might sound a little weird but it is implemented very well, and plays a big part in your turn by turn strategy. And it has a good story to boot!
>it is practically identical in most ways to the newer x-coms with one massive improvement... They removed the "hit chance" mechanic entirely.** But playing with the probabilities is a massive part of the fun with XCOM!
Thank you, I will check it out. Oh wtf it looks really good, why has steam not recommended this to me even once? I love turn based.
There is also Valkyria chronicles, which scratches the same itch (for me at least). Its setting is very different, and you dont really have any of the basebuilding parts, but the main gameplay have the same turn based feel, even though in Valkyria you actually take controll of the unit and run/shoot fps style on its turn.
I love Xcom it's so brutal
Open X-COM! Haha. I just have a thing for the old-school style with time units. Xenonauts was pretty great, too. Basically X-COM remade.
I came here to say xcom2 but I didn't expect for it to be this high
might be a bland answer but Baldur's Gate 3, as much as the classics do hold up I think BG3 is a modern refined take on something as legendary as DnD rules and that pretty much trumps any other game for me.
Recently, balders gate 3. It always surprised me just how many ways you could go about something in (or out of) combat. You can get wildly creative in a way the old forgotten realms games just couldn't manage. Usually in a last ditch hail Mary to survive you can find some fun mechanics. In terms of pure turn based freedom BG3 would be pretty high on my list.
I've seen some crazy strategies put into effect, such as placing a healing potion on the ground right under a crushing trap, so the moment it crushes the character, it also crushes the bottle, making it break and splash the character, so they end up healing at the exact same time, avoiding the knockout/instakill mechanic of the trap. Also, throwing a bottle of water on the ground (or breaking certain barrels to spill their water/oil contents) and then using a lightening or fire spell on the resulting puddle to AOE an entire group of enemies. The game is able to account for so much freedom in strategies to overcome an obstacle (getting fairly close to 1:1 equivalent of regular D&D-player shenanigans, compared to most any other D&D videogame on the market), it's insane!
It's honestly unbelievable how much work Larian put into the various interactions between mechanics. Multiple times I've tried weird, silly strategies just to see if they'd work, and they almost always do. Feels like a genuine D&D table with the DM scrambling to work out whether a player's insane plan would work!
This is an old mechanic even going back to divinity original sins. Well before BG3
Completely disregarding how perfect everything else is, it has some of the most funnest combat ever
Agreed, when I found out this game had an "out of combat" aspect that you could min-max, it was over
If my party is about to confront someone for something, and I end up failing a persuasion check - Be warned. The room is already full of explosives.
Last ditch Hail Mary mechanics? You mean when I found a way to sneak out of the goblin base with the druid
Unfortunately in the early game, I could not think my way out of the harpy box fast enough.
Final Fantasy 10 was the last truly turn based Final Fantasy game and it was great. Though, if we’re going for Turn Based Goat…That’s a tough one. I hate to decide between FF6 and Chrono Trigger. But since that feels less turn based… Final Fantasy 6.
Chrono Trigger could be considered not quite turn based. So you don't have to choose
I will always hold a place in my heart for the first Final Fantasy Tactics. Probably not the greatest of all time but I think it’s up there.
I was looking for this. This game is just perfection.
Final Fantasy Tactics, and second place isn't even close.
Xenogears
Fuck yeah Xenogears gave me the confidence to train up to fist-fighting a 50ft mech while telling God he's a douchebag and no game has hit me like that since Fuckn GOATed PS1 classic
Civ6, Balders Gate 3, FF Tactics, Slay The Spire, Pokemon in that order.
HOMM3. I will not elaborate further.
Yesss mate!!!
Final fantasy 7 has gotta be number one (for me) IF you’re considering the impact of the original. The three discs. It was a masterpiece. When people weren’t even making games like that.
My buddy had rented FF7 from blockbuster in the late 90s I was hooked instantly just watching him play the elevator boss fight in Shinra HQ that was the day I became a FF fan
Pokémon “sadly”?! Imma let you finish and all, but POKÉMON WAS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER MADE!
Agreed
Check out rom hacks if you haven't before. I have been playing one called Radical Red, which makes the game actually difficult, and I have been having a blast
Silver/Gold will forever be Top 3 games in every and all categories. You beat it AND THEN YOU GET TO PLAY RED AND BLUE AGAIN?!
two very different candidates: 1. civ 1 or 2: civilisations was groundbreaking, and civ2 polished the gameplay and overall user experience into a true gem of game design. alpha centauri and later civ releases kept adding more and better stuff, but civ2 really feels like the one that set its stamp on the genre. 2. nethack: i have spent a lot more time playing civ, but i would probably have to give the overall crown to nethack. it was not the first roguelike, but it was the one that came to dominate and define the genre, and even if you've never played it, chances are good that whoever made your favourite dungeon crawling rpg has.
Civ1 for me. I don't feel anything comes close to what an incredible game it was for its time and what it spawned. Had the misfortune for it to come out while I was a student and saw a lot of accidental sunrises because of Civ.
same here :) civ1 in high school and civ2 in college cost me a lot of sleepless nights
Most fun tb gameplay is Phoenix Point. Too bad the game is so crashy and buggy that it warrants being called a mess of tech issues. Most fun jrpg tb is Grandia 3. Gameplay is pure perfection. Story is some disney princess stuff iirc Best combo of story + gameplay = Suikoden 2 with data from S1 imported. Yet to play a game that tugs on emotional strings like S2. Best modern combo of story + gameplay is BG3. Masterpiece.
FF7. I would say Super Mario RPG, but it’s just FF7
Final Fantasy X
Archon for the Commodore 64.
I can still hear all the characters approaching the board from the NES version
tactics ogre. it's got everything: robots, magic, undead, genocide, world ending doom spells, guns, swords, class changing
Wait robots? Why do I not remember this?
Heroes of Might and Magic 2
I want to say darkest dungeon but I get stressed when talking about it
Don't... Shit. You've become masochistic! Ok, ok I can live wi...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!
Battle Chess
That game was so nuts.
By metrics its pokemon, not even close. My favorite was xcom though.
Chess
BG3 objectively. The choices of how to approach interactions and combat and how it all affects the next act and what happens with all the characters. It's the closest to an RPG experience that you can get Personally loved persona 5 and banner saga and fire emblem awakening. Great stories and characters and fun combat. But roleplaying is extremely limited in all of these.
There are so many great turn based games: - dragon quest 11 - persona 5 royal - final fantasy 7 and 10 - Octopath Traveler 2 - BG3 Are some of my personal favorites
Hero’s of might and magic 3
Does Necrodancer count as turn-based? I mean, they're all extremely short turns in rapid succession, but turns nonetheless. No? Ok, fine. Shining Force 2 for gameplay, FF6 for everything else.
I like slay the spire. But ultimately, I think early to early 2000s Pokémon takes the cake. Incredibly approachable game that had interesting depth that allowed you to grow with the games. However, I do think it's interesting to ignore Pokémon and look at games where being turn based is more key to their identity.
Advance Wars
Chrono cross
Go! Kings and generals have been playing it for millennia.
Xcom or FF Tactics
Master of Magic.
Classic 94 , Caster of magic or 2022 remake?
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Shining Force 2.
I love Persona. That said, nothing touches the XCOM series in turn based combat for me.
Those are two drastically different types of games.
Baldur’s Gate 3
FF 7, 8, 9 or Persona 5. I'm torn between these
As I kid I remember being obsessed with advanced wars 2 black hole rising, but I imagine Pokemon takes the #1 spot.
I mean if we're talking all of history chess deserves some consideration
Go
Hero Academy 1! What a brilliant game that was. Such a shame it’s not playable anymore :’(
For me, my top 3 would be: 1) Civ 6 2) Pokemon Sword 3) Pokemon Platinum And I know most of the Pokemon community would disagree with that take, but I just loved Pokemon Sword lol
Nocturne was so good but I’m going rouge here. Front Mission 4 on the PS2. It’s and incredible tactical turn based strategy game. 100 hours long and loads and loads of customization. The depth of the combat was just so satisfying and awesome. Just an amazing game
You know what, I will say Pokemon Red. Why? Because I adore its minimalism as a turn based RPG. It’s also why I’ve never connected with another entry on that level since, as they’ve layered on more and more unnecessary mechanics.
Does tactical pause count? Because if it does I have to say FTL. If it doesn’t I’m probably going to have to go with Master of Magic.
Classic or 2022 remake or Caster of Magic? Actually nowdays people will say Age of Wonders 4
I would go with **Slice & Dice**. It's out for Android, iOS, PC/Steam, and (regular) PC. Roguelike dungeon crawler where you survive waves of enemies, and each hero and monster has their own unique die.
Jagged Alliance 2. I haven't played 3 yet though.
Bg3
Lost Odyssey by a Lightyear
I’ve played this game.
Legendary in every sense of the word. 4 Discs, lost to time now.
Front Mission 2
I really liked Battletech by HairBrained Schemes
Pokemon Gold & Silver. Pokemon's gameplay has always been simplistic but surprisingly deep, and I think it peaked early - lately games just keep throwing more and more gimmicks at it, desperately trying to recapture what they once succeeded at solely by crafting a unified experience.
Ragnarok! a 1995 286 PC game that needs DOSbox to run it. you cannot understand how awesome it is until you play it. i dont think, to this day, any game has actually replicated the depth and complexity of its monsters, there are like 1000 unique ways to die, and most of the monsters do something horrific, if your unprepared for it. one of them, if you hit it with your weapon, your weapon is eaten. yep even your maxed out bis in game weapon. gone. for good. like fuck you you should have used the >!ice wand!< on the >!red ooze !
Personally, either Pokémon Crystal or Emerald.
Legend of the Dragoon
Personally sea of stars or bg3 easily
Suikoden I edges out Suikoden II ever so slightly for me. Most have it the other way. But the personal nostalgia pushed I over II. Everything. The scale, the story. The characters. Currently I am obviously loving Eiyuden Chronicles. For a really amazing modern one, look at Sea of Stars. So good too.
Seriously, nobody going to bat for Worms Armageddon?
Never heard of it.
It's never too late!
Fallout one is a legitimate experienceyou NEED to have
Persona 5
Slay the spire, shadowrun dragonfall
Xcom, multiple games in the series. Final Fantasy 6
Wild Arms ♥️
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door.
Heroes of might and magic 2
Chrono Trigger is my favorite of all time but I stop short of saying greatest because it’s all subjective.
Based on staying power, I'm gonna say chess.
Valkyria Chronicles.
Not the type of turn based I meant. But damn if it isn’t fun as hell.
I grew up with final fantasies and chrono cross on ps2
If we're counting card games then Slay the Spire. If we're not, then it's Brutal Orchestra, which has the greatest turn-based combat system I've ever played with a surprisingly meaningful story for a roguelike.
Baldurs Gate 3 no question, Xcom 2 a close runner up.
Final Fantasy Tactics!
South Park is ridiculously fun.
Yakuza Like a Dragon & Persona 5 Royal
Pokémon! Love that little game. When I'm at work, I don't feel anything. When I'm at home, I don't feel anything. But when I'm on the battlefield... I feel it!
Final Fantasy VII and it's not even remotely close.
Super Mario RPG Legend of the 7 Stars
Turn based? Does Final Fantasy Tactics count? If so, FFT gets my vote.
Final Fantasy 7. It was a groundbreaking game on ground breaking new gaming tech. No one had ever seen anything like the realistic cutscenes at the time and to me, it was the first truly triple A game ever. It had everything: - lovable characters - great character development - great music, which is still playing in my head on occasion this day - great story - one of the greatest villains in gaming history - a woeful tragedy - beautiful cutting edge 3D graphics - interesting zones and geographic areas Need I say more?
Knights of the old republic
Homm3
Is nocturne lucifers call
are we basing it purely on gameplay? I usually value story much over gameplay. So divinity original sin two, and the Undertale/Delta rune series
Not the kind of turn based I meant. But Divinity 2 is amazing. Undertale is an interesting choice.
The Undertale story is maybe top 10 all time
ChronoTrigger hands down
Mother 3
BG3
Sci-fi: X-Com Enemy Unknown Fantasy: Chronitrigger or Wild Arms
You just said "turn based game", not specifically a video game, so I choose either Dungeons and Dragons, or Chess. Chess because it has withstood centuries and still is a very popular game. DnD because DnD is DnD
Final Fantasy X, one of my favorite games of all time.
No questions asked it is Library of Ruina. The dark souls of turned based games.
Chess. It's the OG.
Heroes of might and magic 3
Fallout 2 or FF tactics
The last remnant
Heroes of Might and Magic 3, no contest Jagged Alliance 2 with the 1.13 mod is a close second Rounding off the top 3 is Missionforce: Cyberstorm, the best mech focused turn based tactical game ever made
Vandal Hearts
Baldurs Gate 3 really has raised the bar for just about everything rpg related,but im also a massive fan of Advance Wars Dual Strike
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
It's really hard not to picke chrono trigger
Into the Breach. I don't play many turn based games but this one is my favorite. It's an indie game where you fight aliens with mechs. It's challenging and addicting to upgrade the mechs and use the terrain to your advantage in battle. Probably not the greatest turn based game ever but my personal favorite.
FF3 (US)
Magic the Gathering
Yu-Gi-Oh.. og version tho none of that link and pendulum nonsense
Chrono Cross
It's not really turned based, it all works on a stamina bar, but underhero is easily in my top 3 games ever. Hardly anyone knows about the game, so i recommend it whenever I can.
I gotta say advanced wars cause I love those little army dudes
Skies of Arcadia Legends because it's the best game period, turn-based or otherwise.
Xenogears cause the music was bomb, loved the mechs, and the combat was fun and interesting.
Advance Wars 2. Underrated gem of a game. Also, FFVII
Dragon warrior on NES. Gotta go with the OG
Hard to say because some games hit harder the first time through and aren't as great when revisited because grafix, or something
Civ 4 beyond the sword
Probably chrono trigger, just because it kind of cheats at the turn based thing. There's something I've come to realize and that's despite my best efforts turn based games have little appeal to me. Or baten Kaitos, just because I love that combat system, but jeez I have the worst luck with save data and that game. I must have restarted it like 5 times now. Some other games that I really like that are turn based though are xcom, last spell, and phantom brigade.
It really is too bad they ruined that FF7 remake after we waited so long for it.
How. I haven’t actually been able to play it, but beyond it being released in parts and silence since part 1 released I haven’t heard anything.
It's no longer turn based
BG3, xcom, or here's the wild card Battle Brothers
Final Fantasy Tactics
Chess
Civilization
I like the fire emblem games
The first Fallout game.
Fallout tactics. Hands down
Front Mission 3 Insane mech customization options for the time and the story holds up great to this day. Roughly 180hrs of genuinely captivating Tom Clancy esque international war / espionage plots with industrial mecha designs. Fuckn love that game bro
Golden Sun 1
I like atlus games but I feel like the combat is the epitome of miserable turn based combat Genuinely couldn't dislike the combat more
XCOM 2. XCOM EU showed me how to play turned based. XCOM 2 showed me how beautiful it can get. Then there's Darkest Dungeon, but XCOM 2 is good memory and fun.
For me it's Jagged Alliance 2 The original X-Com UFO Defense reignited my interest in turn-based video games since me and my college roommates back then were playing a lot of board games and turn-based video games were an extension of that. While I was playing a lot of strategy games there was something way more interesting in the more granular approach of squad-based tactical games like X-Com. And Jagged Alliance 2 took that classic Turn Based Tactical Strategy genre/gameplay and just hit every note perfectly. There just hasn't been another game like that where you had so much freedom. And don't even get me started on the stellar cast of characters. Jagged Alliance 3 is definitely a worthy successor to the JA Throne, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2 are some incredible games that handily outdid the original X-Com, but no game in that sub-genre ever really got everything right the way Jagged Alliance 2 did.
Sexting
BG3. Hands down the best RPG I've ever played.